early voting ends tomorrow, january 31st.  if you intended to vote early, time is quickly running out.

the financial disclosure reports are out.  here's a summary of how much the four democrats in this race raised and spent:

Candidate Name	Net Receipts	Net Distributed	Cash on Hand	Debt
Mark Pera	$612,932	$538,918	$74,014	$261,404
Dan Lipinski	$464,812	$191,014	$377,675	$0
Jerry Bennett	$183,737	$153,389	$30,343	$49,523
Jim Capparelli	$12,865	$8,467	$4,397	$0

There's more...

the most important news at this point is that early voting has begun. for those who live in illinois' 3rd congressional district, the ballot positions are:

Mark N. Pera      #9
Jim Capparelli    #10
Daniel William Lipinski    #11
Jerry Bennett    #12

all the democrats in this race have filed their voter guide questions.  lipinski's response states"I have also been a leader in the battle to responsibly bring our troops home from Iraq." pera's response argues that"More than anything else, voters are tired of politicians in Washington D.C. who are beholden to special interests and they are fed up with the nepotism and corruption that we see from the Lipinskis and the Strogers of Cook County." bennett's response observes:

During those 27 years [as mayor], I've worked with my fellow mayors and other public officials to transform the town and our region. We've come up with innovative solutions for building infrastructure, improving law enforcement and securing a safer environment.

There's more...

it's a brand new year.  the primaries are less than a month away and the campaigns in illinois' 3rd congressional district are in full gear.  at least they should be.  the biggest piece of news in this race is that the endorsement session for the chicago tribune is available:

the surprising thing is that dan lipinski wasn't there.  perhaps one cannot be too surprised, given the ongoing scandal that surrounds the incumbent congressman.  the introductory segment of the session gives a great summary of what the different campaigns think are driving this campaign.  the video starts jim capparelli, then goes to jerry bennett while mark pera is the last to give his introduction.

There's more...

there's been a slew of news in this race, for everybody running.  rep. lipinski got the afl-cio endorsement [PDF] and the afscme endorsement.  this isn't a surprise given the association of speaker madigan with lipinski, and madigan's closeness with the unions.  lipinski also got the endorsement of pipefitters local 597.  

mark pera got the endorsement of NARAL/Pro-Choice America as well as the endorsement of forrest claypool, who won almost 70 percent of the vote in four il-03 townships during the 2006 primary.  pera was also endorsed by reformers ald. manny flores, ald. brendan reilly, ald. scott waguespack, st. sen. dan kotowski, st. rep. john fritchey, and mwrd commissioner debra shore.

jerry bennett has announced the endorsements of 66 local mayors; the southwest sider blogger lists them all.  the one that is missing is the one undoubtedly supporting lipinski.

There's more...

if media was all that mattered, the race against rep. dan lipinski would be lopsided.  lipinski has generated a lot of negative publicity in his run-up to re-election, and you'd expect someone to take advantage of it.  the incumbent faces a mini-scandal, one that doesn't particularly help his image as he tries to seperate himself from his father (who handed him the seat in 2004).  kristen mcqueary lays out the reasons for the lipinski scandal, and rich miller, of the capitol fax blog, summarizes:

Bill Lipinski games the system to get his kid elected to Congress. The son keeps his dad's cronies on the payroll, and two of them (includng one who remains on the payroll) are getting payments from his father's childrens' charity fund, which doesn't appear to be doing a lot of charitable work except for Dan Lipinski's benefit. Dan shares an office with his daddy's lobbying firm and even pays that firm for advice, but he insists he never talked with daddy about a project that the elder Lipinski is working on.

mark pera has emerged as the early netroots favorite.  he's demonstrated that he's serious about this race, lining up pat botterman as his campaign manager and julie sweet as his deputy.  pera has gotten the dfa endorsement and convinced the local dfa groups (all outside the 3rd) to send in the troops.  pera just announced the endorsement of citizen action, which has been a bellweather endorsement in the past.

There's more...